The present invention relates to apparatuses for creating and reproducing object information with performance information added thereto, for use in transmitting object information such as news or messages with background music through a network such as the Internet.
Conventionally, WWW (World Wide Web) servers have created and distributed news, weather forecasts and other kinds of information, while terminals have reproduced the information distributed thereto. Further, mail servers have distributed information such as messages created at and sent from message source terminals, and destination terminals have reproduced the information distributed thereto.
FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information distributing system for use in explaining conventional information creating apparatus and information reproducing apparatus.
In the drawing, reference numeral 201 denotes a personal computer terminal, 201a is a display unit, and 201b is a speaker. Reference numeral 202 denotes a public communication network, 203 is a server, 203a is a database, and 204 is a base station, 205 is a mobile terminal such as a potable telephone terminal, 205a is a display part, 205b is a receiver, and 205c is an interface connector. Further, reference numeral 206 is a personal computer terminal like the one indicated by the reference numeral 201, and 207 is a potable telephone terminal like the one indicated by the reference numeral 205.
Object information such as news or a message is stored in the database 203a of the server 203 in a format such as a text- information format, a static image information format, a dynamic image information format or the like. The personal computer terminal 201 establishes a dial-up connection to the server 203, for example, on the public communication network 202, reads object information from the database 203a in the form of the text information or the like, and displays the read information on its display part 201a. 
Also stored in the database 203a is performance information written in a format such as an SMF (Standard Musical Instrument Digital Interface File) format or audio compressed data format. So, the personal computer terminal 201 may read the performance information together with the above-mentioned text information. Such an Internet service is known as the “MidRadio (Trademark)” or the “MIDPLUG for XG (Trademark)”.
The text information used in the above-mentioned service, however, is merely provided for displaying a text indicative of the copyright or title of the music, which has not been accompanied with such background music as to fit the information contents of the news or message.
If performance information of background music that can suggest the contents of object information to be displayed were distributed together with the object information such as text information and image information, impact and impression of the object information such as news or a message could be increased, thereby adding value to the distributed object information.
Further, since the contents of the text or image information cannot be checked in a short time, a user may miss the information. In contrast, performance of background music that is in harmony with and therefore can suggest the contents of information allows the user to grasp the outline of the information in a short time, thereby enabling effective utilization of the information.
Suppose that a service provider changes background music according to the contents of information so as to suggest the contents of the information. Since music changes must be made manually, the production cost of news programs increases. There also arises another problem in music selection that varies depending on the personal skill or ability.
On the other hand, there is another type of service, called “Midmail (Trademark)”, which provides the transmission of text messages accompanied with graphics and music from the personal computer terminal 201 to the personal computer terminal 206 through the server 203. In this service, a dial-up connection is established from the personal computer 201 to the server 203. Then, the user of the personal computer 201 individually selects items from a menu containing plural kinds of static image information and plural kinds of music information stored in the database 3a, and sends text messages together with partners' mail addresses at which the text messages are to be delivered. However, this service is provided in such a system as to allow the user on the message source side to manually select a music, not to realize automatic performance of BGM in matching to the contents of information.